That's a GREAT deal for the Sox. Very much like the Beltre deal a few years ago. Naps is a good guy as it's been said that he is very good in the clubhouse. This is a HUGE win for the Sox. We get a player that can play 1st, give us some Ortiz protection and can play catcher every once in a while. You gotta figure he will work SUPER hard to get those incentives and raise his value next year. If he gets injured then it costs us no more than a Gomes......

Of course....with all of that said I'm sure the negative Sox 'fans' will still find a way to b!^ch about it. Of course most of them said that they would ONLY accept a one year deal under $10mil....I can't WAIT to hear what they have to say now..... Let me guess... "if he's such damaged goods that they went from $39 over 3......then they just blew $5mil for nothing...." Or my favorite "We should have traded for Upton!!!!"

i liked the napoli signing...im ok with this kind of money and no long term committment...laRoche was only a two yr deal its not like that wouldve been the long term solution either...but you do have to wonder about his health....oh well...hope we trade our surplus catchers and ellsbury for a very good starter

i liked the napoli signing...im ok with this kind of money and no long term committment...laRoche was only a two yr deal its not like that wouldve been the long term solution either...but you do have to wonder about his health....oh well...hope we trade our surplus catchers and ellsbury for a very good starter

Good deal. Better than signing a player for four years to 10 years like A-Rod, soon to be often injure prone player Pujols, etc. If Napoli have a good healthy year at the same time if Papi didnt, then Boston can sign Napoli a long term contract to bat DH. So right now Boston have a nice flexibility on how to build a team for the 2014 season.

For WMB or Bogerat to play 1B, I wouldnt care who go there. Just hope Boston find a way to move people around unlike they couldnt do it for Jeff Bagwell when he was in the farm system.

i liked the napoli signing...im ok with this kind of money and no long term committment...laRoche was only a two yr deal its not like that wouldve been the long term solution either...but you do have to wonder about his health....oh well...hope we trade our surplus catchers and ellsbury for a very good starter

Geo, I hope you can reflect a little on your criticism of the protracted nature of the Napoli negotiations and maybe concede that Cherrington is not the complete buffoon you love to paint him as. It took this long because Cherrington was playing hard ball to get a cheap one year deal given the damaged goods. Napoli camp didn't want to accept this, hence the length of negotiation. But they came around, as they had to. Nice work Ben.

Well, I'm not a huge Napoli fan but at least it's one year instead of three. Hopefully with the transition to first base instead of catching Napoli will be able to produce better. Still hope Gomez gets some starts at 1B though.

How do incentives factor into the luxury tax? Is it final poyroll paid or does sombody determine whether the incentives are "easily achiveable"? Would like the incentives to be based on PA's if at all possible, to make sure the Sox have the flexibility to not play him due to non-performance as well.

To me this says that BC and the RS medical have definately learned from the past. It says that the RS just aren't going to cave in to pressures from anyone. Good Job to Ben. I certainly hope that Naps has a hugh year and I hope he hits all the incentive milestones, that only means good things to the RS year. Still have time now to go and get 1 front line pitcher.

To me this says that BC and the RS medical have definately learned from the past. It says that the RS just aren't going to cave in to pressures from anyone. Good Job to Ben. I certainly hope that Naps has a hugh year and I hope he hits all the incentive milestones, that only means good things to the RS year. Still have time now to go and get 1 front line pitcher.

Agreed, but I don't think there will be a "front line pitcher" arriving anytime soon as they feel the rotation is set for now. I think you'll see them bring in a lefty bat who can play first and ideally, the outfield. Then you'll see some "depth guys" for the rotation, some minor league deals for positional depth and they'll be ready to go...

i liked the napoli signing...im ok with this kind of money and no long term committment...laRoche was only a two yr deal its not like that wouldve been the long term solution either...but you do have to wonder about his health....oh well...hope we trade our surplus catchers and ellsbury for a very good starter

i liked the napoli signing...im ok with this kind of money and no long term committment...laRoche was only a two yr deal its not like that wouldve been the long term solution either...but you do have to wonder about his health....oh well...hope we trade our surplus catchers and ellsbury for a very good starter

Yeah......I agree....he has been one of the most vocal in regards to how stupid a move Naps was.....but give the guy some credit. After all of the complaining he did about it....at least he has the guts to admit that it turned out ok and now makes sense. There are a lot of other people here who would have made up a different stubborn/ridiculous arguemnt just so they wouldn't have to admit that things changed.

How do incentives factor into the luxury tax? Is it final poyroll paid or does sombody determine whether the incentives are "easily achiveable"? Would like the incentives to be based on PA's if at all possible, to make sure the Sox have the flexibility to not play him due to non-performance as well.

Luxury tax figures aren't determined till the end of the year. By then Napoli's actual 2013 salary including incentives will be known and that's the figure that will be used.